Borrowed Time
Alternative title: "Time to Die" -- UK title
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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Borrowed Time is set in mid-1930's. The player assumes the role of a private investigator named Sam Harlow, who has to solve the kidnapping of his ex-wife Rita Sweeney. At the beginning, he runs away from two thugs, who want to kill him for an unknown reason. They fail, and he begins to search the town for clues, asking its inhabitants for information. But if the player makes a wrong move, Sam dies - killers come from nowhere and murder him...

The player has to type in combinations of verbs and nouns to make an action. Locations are described in text form and presented by pictures, the latter often providing additional information not contained in the text description.

Trivia

There is a hidden picture known as "Yummy". It shows Brian Fargo (the boss of Interplay) cutting off the head of an unnamed programmer, according to Rebecca Ann Heineman, who was a programmer there at the time.

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Description from the packaging:

An illustrated text adventure.
By Interplay Productions.

Knock-knock.
Who's there? You don't know.
Better find out.
Because somebody's after you.
And if you don't stop them in time, they're going to get away with murder.
Yours.

Danger in the first degree.
Open on a sultry, rather unremarkable big-city afternoon.
Focus on a sweaty, sort of sloppy small-time PI's office.
(Any similarities to run-of-the-mill sleuth stories end here.)
The drowsy detective is rudely jerked back to consciousness by his telephone's nasty jingle:
"Sam, you're a dead man."

Seems thing have suddenly gotten very personal. A definitely unsettling how-do-you-do. But who in the world could be the perpetrator? And why?
"Sam, you're a dead man."

There are 20 serious suspects. And, unfortunately for Sam, it seems each one of them want to throw the first clump of dirt on his coffin.
"Sam, you're a dead man."

A smart gumshoe will turn his old case files- and the city- upside down to find the fiend. A smarter gumshoe will also turn and constantly check his flanks. Seems Sam's been put in the rather precarious position of trying to skin a cat without getting skinned alive.
"Sam, you're a dead man."

And the one man that can help with a few precious clues and tidbits of info just happens to be blind.
"Sam, you're a dead man."
"Sam, you're a dead man."

Guess who's Sam. Have a nice day.
